Cyprus - Day 5 - The cultural bit

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5 days in Cyprus and I still haven't seen much of the island, but that is about to change today. Angela (Skeve's little sister) and Dave (Angela's boss' husband) picked me up early in the morning and we drove from the Villa to Pafos. Here, in Pafos, there are some spectacular mossaics.

The mossaics are part of the largest structure found in Cyprus so far. It is divided into several "houses". They estimate that most of these "houses" are dated from the 2nd century AD and it is believed this construction was used until 7th century AD.

If you look at the mossaics now they may not look very impressive but you have to try and imagine them as they were when they first created them with all the colours and recently polished, the view would take the breath away from anyone with eyes.

Also, nowadays you can only see a stone wall but in the old times, these walls were partly revetted with marble and partly painted.

Now imagine the rooms full of colourful mossaics on the floor and marble and statues on the walls... how lavish is that?!

These mossaics look like paintings but they are not, they've been created stone by stone. There is a lot of detail on the mossaics and that is due to the little size of the stones with which they were created.

Most of the mossaics here make a reference to either the myths of Theseus and the minotaur or Achilles and Poseidon.

After reading all that you may be inclined to believe I am an expert in Greek history. Well, even with the risk to dissapoint you, my dear readers, I must admit that I know this because I read it on the exhibits they have all around the place, but I thought this brief summary would help you appreciate more the photos.

You may be forgiven for thinking they are pictures but believe me, they are mossaics and they are made up of little stones put together one by one.

A couple of the houses have been put a roof over to protect the mossaics from the weather, other parts are still open and exposed

There are also some parts that have been digged out and buried again in order to protect the findings from the bleaching effect of the sun while they try to gather the required funds to protect the said findings. As with most things in this life, it's all about the money.

Another house where they had the funds to put a roof over:

The place served as the official residence for the governor of Cyprus, the current tenant prefers the outdoors however...

and these buildings also served as a public villa, hence the small roman theater embeded in it.

The vegetation in the island is very mediterranean and it reminds me of the vegetation in Sicily (on the non volcanic part of the island).

The mossaics were fantastic and the whole ruins were truly amazing but despite of visiting the place at 9 in the morning, the heat was unbearable so as soon as we finished our visit we went straight to a bar and order some refereshments

Below Angela and Dave

Then it was time to have lunch so we headed towards an area that Dave and Angela had seen before and thought it would be a nice place to have lunch. Unfortunately all the taverns there were closed. It gets very lively in the evenings but at lunch time it is all dead.

So instead we got in the car and drove to the mountains where we stopped in a small village called Kathikas.

Can you see the air conditioning units coming out of the church? The heat is truly undescribable...


We ended up going to a local tavern which looks really rustic and it looked like the kind of place where you get the real thing. Dave and Angela had been there before so they knew we wouldn't get dissapointed with the experience.

I would totally recomend this place. At lunch time just order the mini-meze. You'll have to walk sideways in order to get out through the door! Too much food! and really good too!

Then we went back into the car and headed for the beach

It was a very nice day all around, cultural bits, good food, the beach...and fantastic views from the mountains.

Life's tough!